GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Miami barged into the College Football Playoff like a hurricane, a stifling defense and steady quarterback rekindling the magic of 2001.
Mississippi has been excelling since its coach left for another program, an athletic and acrobatic quarterback taking the Rebels to heights not seen since the 1960s.
The Fiesta Bowl will be a playoff game like no other, the sixth-seeded Rebels facing the 10th-seeded Hurricanes in the desert, a spot in the national championship game on the line.
“Seeing the way things played out just goes to show you that college football has become a lot like the NFL, that on any given day, any given team at any level, if you’re not at your very best, you can get beat,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said.
Miami and Ole Miss were left out of the playoffs a year ago, but got in this year — with a bit of consternation.
For the Hurricanes (12-2), the question was whether they should have been in the 12-team field at all. Miami didn't play in the ACC title game, but got the nod over champion Duke based on its resume and CFP rankings.
The Hurricanes proved they belong with a pair of impressive wins, shutting down No. 7 Texas A&M 10-3 in the opening round, then pulling off one of the biggest upsets in CFP history by taking down No. 2 Ohio State 24-14.
That puts Miami within reach of its first national title since 2001.
“The confidence that the coaches have and the players and vice versa has shown up more and more on the field,” Cristobal. “I think when that happens, then you feel energy, but really, we haven’t strayed from our original blueprint.”
The Rebels (13-1) have stuck to their gameplan despite the uncertainty over coach Lane Kiffin's future and his eventual decision to leave for LSU.
Behind what's-he-going-to-do-next quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss closed the regular season with five straight wins, including a decisive win over rival Mississippi State while Kiffin was deciding what to do. Even after their coach left, the Rebels kept charging, blowing out Tulane in the opening round and outlasting No. 3 seed Georgia 39-34 in the CFP quarterfinals.
Ole Miss claims one national title recognized by the NCAA, in 1960.
“They don't flinch,” said Ole Miss coach Pete Golding, the team's defensive coordinator before being elevated upon Kiffin's departure. “There's a grit and toughness about this group to where regardless of the talent level, regardless of what happens ... there's not a panic."
The addition of former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck has been a huge reason for Miami's run.
So has its defense.
With first-year coordinator Corey Hetherman calling the shots, the Hurricanes went from porous to nearly impenetrable is a very short time.
Miami this season gave up its fewest points since the 2001 national championship team, finishing fourth nationally at 13.07 per game. The Hurricanes have been even stingier in the CFP, holding Texas A&M and Ohio State to a combined 17 points.
“They got dudes,” Chambliss said. “They're a physical, high-motor defense.”
One of the questions Golding has repeatedly faced is whether the Ole Miss assistant coaches will remain with the team through the playoffs.
Several assistants, including offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., are expected to join Kiffin at LSU, but so far they've stuck around to finish off the Rebels' season.
“They have every opportunity, like they have up to this point, to be able to make that decision,” Golding said. “Week in and week out, I don’t dictate whether they do that or not. They are not employed by me. Up to this point that’s how it’s been and that’s my expectation.”
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Mississippi head coach Pete Golding runs on the field at halftime during the Sugar Bowl NCAA college football playoff quarterfinal game against Georgia, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)
Miami quarterback Carson Beck, right, prepares to hand off to running back Mark Fletcher Jr. during the first half of the Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game against Ohio State Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Mississippi quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (6) warms up before the Sugar Bowl NCAA college football playoff quarterfinal game between Georgia and Mississippi, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein is weighing a potential guilty plea to resolve an undecided rape charge and avoid going to trial for a third time in New York, a judge said Thursday.
But, amid the plea talk, the disgraced movie mogul struck a defiant tone, telling a court hearing: “I know I was unfaithful, I know I acted wrongly, but I never assaulted anyone."
Weinstein spoke after Judge Curtis Farber denied his bid to overturn his lone conviction at his previous trial, a charge of forcibly performing oral sex on a woman in 2006 that carries a potential sentence of up to 25 years in prison.
The same jury acquitted Weinstein of a charge involving similar allegations involving a different woman, also in 2006, and failed to reach a verdict on a charge that he raped hairstylist and actor Jessica Mann in a Manhattan hotel in 2013.
Lawyers for the Oscar-winning producer had argued that the verdict last June in state court in Manhattan was tainted by infighting and bullying among jurors. Farber rejected that and scheduled a March 3 new trial for the unresolved third-degree rape charge.
The rape charge is punishable by up to four years — less than Weinstein already has served.
“I am disappointed in today’s decision," Weinstein told the judge. “You witnessed the trial and saw how forces beyond my control stripped me of my most basic right to be judged fairly.”
He accused one juror of carrying a personal agenda into deliberations, intimidating others and spreading false allegations. That, he said, "shattered any hope of impartiality.”
After Farber issued his decision, Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala said he wanted to “pursue plea negotiations" before going behind closed doors with the judge, prosecutors and other defense lawyers to discuss the matter.
Minutes later, Farber returned to the bench and said Weinstein wanted time to think about it.
It's the latest convoluted turn in the ex-Hollywood honcho's path through the criminal justice system. His landmark #MeToo-era case has spanned seven years, trials in two states, a reversal in one and a retrial that came to a messy end in New York last year.
Weinstein has denied all the charges.
They were one outgrowth of a stack of sexual harassment and sex assault allegations against him that emerged publicly in 2017 and ensuing years, fueling the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct. Early on, Weinstein apologized for “the way I've behaved with colleagues in the past,” while also denying that he ever had nonconsensual sex.
At trial, Weinstein's lawyers argued that the women willingly accepted his advances in hopes of getting work in various capacities in show business, then falsely accused him to net settlement funds and attention.
The split verdict last June came after multiple jurors took the unusual step of asking to brief the judge on behind-the-scenes tensions.
In a series of exchanges partly in open court, one juror complained that others were “shunning " one of the panel members; the foreperson alluded to jurors “pushing people” verbally and talking about Weinstein's “past” in a way the juror thought improper; yet a third juror opined that discussions were “going well.”
The foreperson later came forward again to complain to the judge about being pressured to change his mind, then said he feared for his safety because a fellow panelist had said he would “see me outside.” The foreperson eventually refused to continue deliberating.
In court, Farber cited the secrecy of ongoing deliberations and reminded jurors not to disclose “the content or tenor” of them. Since the trial, Weinstein's lawyers have talked with the first juror who openly complained and with another who didn't.
In sworn statements, the two said they didn't believe Weinstein was guilty, but had given in because of other jurors' verbal aggression.
One said that after a fellow juror insulted her intelligence and suggested the judge should remove her, she was so afraid that she called two relatives that night and “told them to come look for me if they didn't hear from me, since something was not right about this jury deliberation process.” All jurors’ identities were redacted in court filings.
Weinstein's lawyers contend the tensions amounted to threats that poisoned the process, and that Farber didn't look into them enough before denying defense mistrial requests.
Prosecutors maintain that the judge was presented with claims about “scattered instances of contentious interactions” and handled them appropriately.
Weinstein, who is being held in New York, also is appealing a rape conviction in Los Angeles.
POOL PHOTO: Harvey Weinstein appeared in court today to see if he will have to stand trial again for his sexual assault crimes. Photos by Steven Hirsch /New York Post via AP) Harvey Weinstein appears in court in New York, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool)
Harvey Weinstein appears in court in New York, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP)
POOL PHOTO: Harvey Weinstein appeared in court today to see if he will have to stand trial again for his sexual assault crimes. Photos by Steven Hirsch /New York Post via AP) Harvey Weinstein appears in court in New York, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool)
POOL PHOTO: Harvey Weinstein appeared in court today to see if he will have to stand trial again for his sexual assault crimes. Photos by Steven Hirsch /New York Post via AP) Harvey Weinstein appears in court in New York, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool)
FILE - Harvey Weinstein appears in state court in Manhattan for his retrial, June 11, 2025, in New York. (Steven Hirsch /New York Post via AP, Pool, File)
FILE - Harvey Weinstein appears in state court in Manhattan as jurors return to deliberations on a remaining charge in his retrial on June 12, 2025 in New York. (Christian Monterrosa/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan criminal court during his retrial, June 11, 2025, in New York. (Angela Weiss/Pool Photo via AP, File)
